Rain and pumpkins
by ClarisseSelwyn
Summary: Hogsmeade has suffered from a drought since Hadrian was born, then comes a stranger that can create rain clouds with a swirl of their finger. [No dialogue]


The town of Hogsmeade has suffered from a drought for five years; meaning that they can't grow their famous pumpkins. It hasn't stopped them from trying of course - it's the town's biggest export. The drought mean that the pumpkins that they do grow are far too small to be worth much money, which is why most have moved away from the town and abandoned their pumpkin growing ways in favor of so-called real jobs. The Potter family is one of the few families that have stayed behind; but then they don't actually grow pumpkins. The Potter family has made a fortune in hair products and live in Hogsmeade simply because it's a very nice place to raise a child. Coincidentally their child is five years old; born when the drought started.

Hadrian Potter has hair like the dirt, eyes like the pumpkin stems, and splatters of orange freckles on his skin. His mother affectionately refers to him as Pumpkin; but many of the other mothers in the town refer to their children in the same way. He is usually seen walking around in rubber boots that are just a size too big, jumping in imaginary puddles and pretending that there's rain. His father jokes with him that he won't grow bigger than the pumpkins; which are all rather small during the drought. Hadrian often responds by pointing out that he is already bigger than the pumpkins; he is a very clever boy in that way. His parents' response is to tell him about the time before the drought when the pumpkins grew as big as barrels at the very least. As Hadrian is not yet as tall as a barrel, it sounds truly gigantic to him. Then again, the barrels used in Hogsmeade were truly gigantic in comparison to the standard-sized barrel. After all; size is relative.

His size has never stopped him from doing what he wants, within the limitations that his parents has set for him. Hadrian walks around with his umbrella; talking to the clouds in the sky about how much he would love if it rained. He has heard stories about rain and he has seen movies but he has never experienced it himself; not even when they traveled all the way to Godric's Hollow to visit his grandparents. For five year old Hadrian, seeing real rain is his biggest wish in the world.

He is eleven and outside playing when it happens. A drop of water lands on his freckled nose. At first he assumes that he has worked up a sweat in the warm August weather, or that someone is playing a joke on him; like the Weasley twins - but then he feels another drop and another and yet one more. When Hadrian looks up, he is very surprised to see a small rain cloud hovering above his head. He looks around curiously, but the rain cloud is only above him. When he looks around a second time, Hadrian notices a stranger leaning against the wall. The stranger is taller than him but looks younger than his parents, which doesn't really say that much about the stranger's age. The stranger is dressed completely in dark colours although their skin is pale; much paler than Hadrian's tan skin. The stranger has hair as black as the night, and dark eyes like rain clouds. Hadrian can't help but think that they're beautiful. Then the stranger winks at him and Hadrian is alone again; the rain cloud above his head the only sign that the stranger was ever there.

By the time that Hadrian comes home, the rain cloud is small enough to keep in a jar. He gently helps it into one and put the jar on his shelf. The thought to show his parents doesn't cross his mind until the next morning when he knows for sure that it wasn't a dream. Hadrian shows his mother, who after a discussion with his father decides that it's for the best that they keep Hadrian's rain cloud a secret.

The next time that Hadrian sees the stranger, he's fifteen years old and kissing Ginevra Weasley for the first time, behind her family's barn. The kiss is not what he had imagined; he can only think of how warm and wet it is. It feels nice in the way that a wet shirt feels nice when the sun is beating down on you; only for a short moment before it feels clammy and sticks to your skin. He is not interested in having Ginevra stick to his skin, and politely breaks the kiss off. While he might have some feelings for Gin, they're apparently not of the kissing sort. It is as Hadrian looks up from her red hair - that as always reminds him of his mother - that he meets the stranger's eyes. For some inexplicable reason, Hadrian flushed as if he was caught doing something that he shouldn't be doing. The stranger is frowning at them as if they can't quite figure something out. Hadrian feels awfully disappointed when they disappear the moment later without leaving any rain behind.

When he gets home, the rain cloud in his jar has escaped and is hovering above his bed. It's about as big as this year's biggest pumpkin ironically. Not sure what to do with it, Hadrian simply lets it be. He regrets it when he wakes up in a wet bed the next morning, and moves the cloud to hover above the bathtub instead.

Hadrian is awakened on his eighteenth birthday by the sound of thunder. There is rain on his bedroom floor, coming inside through the open window. He closes the window and enters the bathroom to see that his rain cloud is gone. When he enters his room again; feeling awake and as if the storm outside has entered his bones and filled him with the buzzing energy of lightning, the stranger is sitting on his bed. One dark-clad leg is elegantly crossed over the other, and the stranger is supporting their weight with one hand on Hadrian's bed. Their other is resting on their knee, pale fingers drumming a rhythm against the fabric.

Not sure how to react - because how does one react to a stranger on their bed? - Hadrian is left standing in his doorway. The stranger gives him a charming smile; much more attractive than the frown from three years ago. Hadrian blinks and the stranger is still there when he opens his eyes again. The stranger lifts the hand that was resting on his bed, and pats his bed a few time as if asking him to sit down besides them. With no other option readily available, Hadrian does so. Their thighs touch; Hadrian's bare legs against the stranger's dressed ones. He is belatedly embarrassed as he realize that he is only wearing a pair of briefs, and the flush reach down to his chest. The stranger lifts the hand that was resting on their knee, and slowly draw a circle in the air. A cloud starts forming at the movement and it rise to hover above Hadrian. With a smile from the stranger it starts to rain inside his room. Hadrian can't help but flush more at the action; they have yet to exchange words but still he feels teased.

The stranger draws another circle in the air and the rain slows down, the drops caressing Hadrian's skin much like the fleeting touch of fingers. Combined with the stranger's eyes on him, the sensation makes him flush for a whole other reason than embarrassment. Then suddenly the stranger is leaning forward and their lips meet. It's surprisingly soft; with a hint of rainwater. Before it has fully registered, the kiss is over. Hadrian opens his eyes; not quite sure when he closed them in the first place. The stranger is gone, and the rain cloud is still hovering above his head.

When Hadrian comes to his senses again, he puts the rain cloud away in a jar. He is awfully reminded of their first meeting; he can only hope that this was not their last.

Hadrian is twenty-five years old and unmarried the fourth time that the stranger appears in his life. He has long since moved away from Hogsmeade and is now living in a flat just outside of London. The drought never did return after his eighteenth birthday and Hadrian is not sure if it is a coincidence or not. He knows that his relationship status isn't; he has tried dating a few times but no kiss can be likened to the one that the stranger gave him. The rain cloud that he keeps in a jar on his bedside table is a constant reminder of what he had, although he only had it for a moment.

At least he only had it for a moment until now. Hadrian has just arrived home after a long day at work when he quite literally walks into the stranger's chest. Before he has fully caught up to the situation, lips are crashing into his in a possessive and demanding kiss. He responds to it before he can see who he is kissing; the taste of rainwater the only clue that he needs. The feeling of being back with the stranger is indescribable nice; like a cold shower on a warm day. He doesn't want it to end, but as with all good things it has to. The kiss leaves him breathless, and Hadrian stares up at the stranger with dazed eyes. It subconsciously registers that the stranger is still taller than him; but Hadrian has always been cursed to be shorter than average.

They don't talk as they move into the kitchen. Hadrian makes them tea out of force of habit, the stranger creates a small rain cloud to follow him around. It should annoy him, but Hadrian can't help but smile fondly. He has never loved a rain cloud as much as the ones that the stranger creates for him.

When the tea is done, they drink it in silence. There should be hundreds, if not thousands or even millions of words to be shared between them, but none of them are necessary to say out loud. As it has always been, there's only them and a cloud of rain.

Later that night when the stranger leaves, they leave behind a promise of more visits in the near future and a name. Tom Riddle.

Hadrian is literally walking on clouds the rest of the night, the rain cloud that have been left behind playing around his legs as if it were a pet.

Years later, when Hadrian is thirty-eight and Tom still looks as young as when they first met, and jars of rain clouds decorate their shelves, Hadrian finally gets the full story.

The drought began because the townspeople had started to take the rain for given, forgetting the god that gave them the precious water in exchange for prayers and sacrifice. Hadrian was the first one to see the rain as something amazing, catching Tom's interest. During the years, Tom kept watching Hadrian from afar. What had started as mere interest in a human being soon grew to be something more; to be an emotion Tom hadn't thought that he could feel. Love. Gods are not supposed to be with humans though, so Tom tried to stay away.

Of course, nothing tastes as good as the forbidden fruit; or the forbidden Pumpkin, in this case.

 **It was fun to write something without dialogue. I hope you found it as cute as I did x**


End file.
